Alan Bradley

Alan BradleyIt is June 1950 and a sleepy English village is about to be awakened by the discovery of a dead body in Colonel de Luce's cucumber patch. The police are baffled, and when a dead snipe is deposited on the Colonel's doorstep with a rare stamp impaled on its beak, they are baffled even more. Only the Colonel's daughter, the precocious Flavia -when she's not plotting elaborate revenges against her nasty older sisters in her basement chemical laboratory, that is - has the ingenuity to follow the clues that reveal the victim's identity, and a conspiracy that reached back into the de Luce family's murky past. Flavia and her family are brilliant creations, a darkly playful and wonderfully atmospheric flavour to a plot of delightful ingenuity.

La jove Flavia de Luce queda corglaçada quan a primera hora del matí, entre els cogombres, descobreix un cadàver al seu jardí! Tothom sospita que ha estat el seu pare, el coronel De Luce, qui ha matat l'home, perquè uns dies abans havia tingut una forta discussió amb el finat. Però una sola persona creu fermament en la innocència del coronel: la setciències de la Flavia. La víctima ha mort enverinada i, ben al contrari que la seva filla —una superdotada en l'art de fabricar pocions—, el seu pare mai no ha tingut cap mena d'interès pels verins. Així doncs, la Flavia comença a empaitar tothom amb preguntes, amb aquella suposada innocència que només tenen els nens, i segueix tossudament cada pista que troba fins que... ha de reconèixer que el seu pare amaga un secret molt fosc. Espavilada, irònica i irresistible, Flavia de Luce és una detectiu com poques al món!

Was their killer still at large? Could their killer be here at Buckshaw...?Two deaths, ten years apart, give Flavia de Luce the distraction she needs at a time when her family are more remote and dysfunctional than usual. Especially when a bizarre series of deadly events is casting a long shadow over everyone at Buckshaw.For Flavia, a gruesome crime to solve is only one of the mysteries confronting her, as she begins to unravel the shocking revelations surrounding the mysterious disappearance of her mother. And as she starts putting the clues together, she discovers an extraordinary tale of espionage and betrayal that may also be the key to her own destiny.

The story opens with the immortal words 'I was lying dead in the churchyard' (spoken, astonishingly, by Flavia herself) and ends with a funeral watched by the De Luce family on a newly-installed television set. Inbetween, Alan Bradley weaves a hauntingly nightmarish tale that involves Punch & Judy - and in particular Mr Punch's nemesis, the hangman, Jack Ketch - a frighteningly realistic puppet show, and a hitherto unexplored corner of Bishop's Lacey known as Gibbet's Wood.

The seventh novel in Alan Bradley's addictive Flavia de Luce mystery series. It all began with that awful business about my mother, Harriet...Following the dramatic events at the conclusion of THE DEAD IN THEIR VAULTED ARCHES and the shocking revelations about her mother, Flavia de Luce finds herself expelled from the familiar confines of Bishop's Lacey and her beloved family home, Buckshaw, and 'packed off', as she puts it, to Miss Bodycote's Female Academy in Canada. With its forbidding headmistress and bizarre rules, adapting to Miss Bodycote's is quite a challenge. But Flavia is soon on familiar ground, when, on her first night, a mummified body is dislodged from a chimney, and she is presented with a gruesome puzzle to solve. And the mystery of the withered corpse is only the beginning. Girls have been disappearing from Miss Bodycote's with alarming regularity, leading Flavia to wonder not only how and why, but what exactly is the academy's true purpose, and why were they so keen that she enrol? If Flavia is to avoid the same fate as the missing girls, she must enter a shadowy world where truth and lies seem interchangeable and no one can be trusted. And ultimately she must discover what it means to be her mother's daughter.

Hailed as a combination of Eloise and Sherlock Holmes by The Boston Globe, Flavia de Luce returns in a new mystery novel from award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Alan Bradley.Its Christmastime, and in spite of being ejected from Miss Bodycotes Female Academy in Canada, twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce is excited to be sailing home to England. But instead of a joyous homecoming, she is greeted on the docks with unfortunate news: Her father has fallen ill, and a hospital visit will have to wait while he rests. But with Flavias blasted sisters and insufferable cousin underfoot, Buckshaw now seems both too emptyand not empty enough. Only too eager to run an errand for the vicars wife, Flavia hops on her trusty bicycle, Gladys, to deliver a message to a reclusive wood-carver. Finding the front door ajar, Flavia enters and stumbles upon the poor mans body hanging upside down on the back of his bedroom door. The only living creature in the house is a feline that shows little interest in the disturbing scene. Curiosity may not kill this cat, but Flavia is energized at the prospect of a new investigation.

Was their killer still at large? Could their killer be here at Buckshaw...? Two deaths, ten years apart, give Flavia de Luce the distraction she needs at a time when her family are more remote and dysfunctional than usual. Especially when a bizarre series of deadly events is casting a long shadow over everyone at Buckshaw. For Flavia, a gruesome crime to solve is only one of the mysteries confronting her, as she begins to unravel the shocking revelations surrounding the mysterious disappearance of her mother. And as she starts putting the clues together, she discovers an extraordinary tale of espionage and betrayal that may also be the key to her own destiny.

The Flavia de Luce novels are now a cult favourite.' Mail on SundayCURIOUSITY WON'T KILL THIS CAT...Twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce is back at Buckshaw at last, but her homecoming is overshadowed by news of her father's illness.Forbidden from visiting Colonel de Luce in hospital, Flavia busies herself in the village, but she soon makes a macabre discover: the corpse of a reclusive woodcarver hanging upside down on the back of a door, in a house empty but for a curiously uncurious cat.

Inglaterra, 1950. Flavia de Luce tiene once años y tres pasiones: los venenos, molestar a sus hermanas mayores y resolver misterios. Hace un tiempo ayudó a la policía con un asesinato, pero desde entonces su unico consuelo son los experimentos que realiza en su laboratorio, ubicado en un ala deshabitada de la mansion en la que vive con su excentrica familia. Asi pues, cuando aparece una furgoneta anunciando un espectaculo de titeres, Flavia es la primera en meter la nariz en el asunto. El dia de la funcion, aunque el lleno total hace prever un gran exito, un tragico accidente lo enturbia todo. Aunque¿Seguro que se trata de un accidente? Sin perder un segundo, Flavia se monta en Gladys, su fiel bicicleta, y pedalea a la caza de las pistas que le permitan resolver este nuevo enigma. ¿Podra una niña enfrentarse sola a los peligros que le acechan en el camino hacia la verdad? En La muerte no es un juego de niños, Alan Bradley, uno de los genios de la narrativa detectivesca, vuelve a sumergirnos en una ingeniosa y apasionante historia de misterio de la mano de la investigadora mas singular, sarcastica e inolvidable del panorama narrativo actual. Los comentarios frivolos nunca me han gustado demasiado, sobre todo cuando los hacen otros y, mas concretamente, me importan un pimiento cuando proceden de un adulto. La experiencia me dice que los chistes en boca de alguien lo suficientemente mayor como para actuar con madurez, a menudo no son mas que un disfraz para algo bastante peor.

Alan Bradley For very-nearly-eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, the discovery of a dead snipe on the doorstep of Buckshaw, the crumbling de Luce country seat, was a marvellous mystery - especially since this particular snipe had a rather rare stamp neatly impaled on its beak. Even more astonishing was the effect of the dead bird on her stamp-collector father, who appeared to be genuinely frightened. Soon Flavia discovers something even more shocking in the cucumber patch and it's clear that the snipe was a bird of very ill omen indeed. As the police descend on Buckshaw, Flavia decides it is up to her to piece together the clues and solve the puzzle. Who was the man she heard her father arguing with? What was the snipe doing in England at all? Who or what is the Ulster Avenger? And, most peculiar of all, who took a slice of Mrs Mullet's unspeakable custard pie that had been cooling by the window...?

«Brillante, irresistible e incorregible, Flavia tiene un gran futuro.» Kirkus Imagínese una vieja casa de campo en algún lugar de Inglaterra. El año es 1950. Imagínese una niña que vive allí con una familia poco común. Se llama Flavia de Luce y tiene casi once años. Imagínese un laboratorio químico victoriano abandonado décadas atrás; nadie entra allí excepto Flavia. Con una vida en casa de lo más amarga y una complicada relación con sus hermanas, Flavia de Luce es una niña solitaria y de extraños talentos que juguetea en el laboratorio abandonado de su casa victoriana. Allí hurga en el pasado prohibido de su taciturno padre viudo, como si fuera un detective, y planea su venganza contra sus hermanas Ofelia y Daphne. En este marco no sorprende que el material para su próximo experimento científi co sea el misterioso cuerpo que encuentra enterrado en su jardín. Siguiendo a su inteligente protagonista, Flavia de los extraños talentos es un libro absolutamente original, imaginativo, rápido de leer, que engancha por su inteligencia y por su humor, a veces muy negro, que se burla de la macabra seriedad de la trama. El autor escoge un marco fascinante como lo es la Inglaterra de 1950 y allí retrata la excéntrica cotidianidad de una familia cuyos miembros despiertan un inusual interés en el lector.«La mejor lectura del 2009.» Times Online «Un debut deliciosamente entretenido.» The Guardian

Una novel·la de detectius intel·ligent, lúcida i divertida amb una protagonista que enamorarà els lectors.Torna a l'atac la Flavia de Luce, la nena d'onze anys perillosament llesta, apassionada per l

El llibre descriu del món dels bolets des de la perspectiva d’un boletaire experimentat I dels coneixements científics de l’altre autor, aportant, per tant, molts continguts que van més enllà de la s

Flavia de Luce vive en una oscura mansión y tiene una familia poco común: dos hermanas que la odian y un padre a quien le interesa más la filatelia que lo que ocurra en su casa. Afortunadamente tiene dos aliados: su bicicleta Gladys y el laboratorio de quimica en el que disfruta de su curiosa aficion por los venenos mientras planea la venganza contra sus hermanas. Cuando Flavia se encuentra un pajaro muerto en la puerta de su casa y a un hombre a punto de morir, no dudara en meterse de lleno en la investigacion, demostrando que una niña de once años tambien puede resolver misterios que otros desearian enterrar.

Un nuevo incidente sacude la placidezáde Bishop’s Lacey, un pueblecito de laácampiña inglesa, allá por 1950: alguienáha atacado a una anciana pitonisa gitanaáy la ha dejado inconsciente. Y precisamenteha sido Flavia de Luce quien la haaencontrado en su caravana. ¿Como podraademostrar la joven que ella no tieneanada que ver con el asalto? Solo con susaconocimientos cientifi cos, su capacidadade observacion y su atrevimiento podraaresolver el misterio de la gitana y descubriraalgunos de los secretos mas bienguardados de sus vecinos.